Undocumented workers hit hardest by pandemic, study says. Will California ‘do more?’
Nearly 360,000 undocumented workers have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic in California, where the job recovery lags behind the rest of the country, a new analysis has found.
Researchers with UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center on Tuesday released the policy report. The study shows undocumented workers in California continue to lose their jobs while other population groups see slow job gains nationally.
The report was co-authored by Edward Flores, an associate professor at UC Merced, and Ana Padilla, executive director of the university’s Community and Labor Center.
California’s job recovery is one of the slowest in the country, the study notes.
An estimated 852,065 noncitizens lost their jobs in the state, including 357,867 undocumented workers. Nationally, about 2.2 million noncitizens lost work, according to the report.
Flores said he hopes “state leaders and elected officials will be aware of the challenges that our state faces during the recovery.”
“California continues on the path towards recovery — marked by steep job losses and a lack of job gains second only to New York — it will be imperative for state policymakers to invest in relief for undocumented immigrants,” the report says.
Researchers found Latinos, Blacks and Asians lost work at higher rates in the state compared to non-Hispanic whites. The job loss rate for Latinos was 22.2%, for Blacks 17.8%, for Asians 17.2%, and for non-Hispanic whites, the rate was 9.9%.
The job loss rate among white women in the state was 9.4%, compared to 28.9% among Latinas and 25.4% among Black women, the analysis concluded.
But the job loss was highest among noncitizen immigrant women at 36.3% job loss rate in California and a 23.7% job loss rate in the rest of the country, according to the report.
“Above all, disparities in pandemic job loss were highest — and continued to grow — in regards to citizenship status,” the study reads.
Between February and April, California lost 3 million jobs and added about 78,391 jobs between April and May, according to the study.
The job losses in the state were highest among workers ages 15 to 34.
Researchers recommend the state implement a wage replacement program for undocumented workers.
However, a proposed program that would provide a $400 weekly payment to unemployed and underemployed undocumented workers didn’t make it into the Legislature’s proposed budget, according to Almas Sayeed, a deputy director with the California Immigrant Policy Center, and Kim Ouillette, attorney and fellow with Legal Aid At Work. Proposed budgets by the Senate and the Assembly are now being negotiated with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
“I don’t think there’s any substitute to wage replacement when you’re discussing low-wage workers that don’t have a safety net,” Flores said.
Funding to expand the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) to people who file their taxes with an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) who have children under the age of 6 was included, Sayeed said. An effort to offer Medi-Cal coverage to seniors regardless of immigration status beginning in 2022 also made it in the budget.
Though, there won’t be a final budget until Newsom signs it.
“The Governor could take EITC and Medi-Cal expansion out of the budget between today and his signature, but we don’t anticipate this happening,” Sayeed said on Monday.
Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, who has led the efforts to expand Medi-Cal to undocumented seniors, said he was encouraged to see the child tax credit for immigrant families and the Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented seniors included in budget proposals.
“The child tax credit for ITIN holders with children under the age of 6 is one of the best anti-poverty tools we have to help these families through the hard times of an economy hammered by COVID-19,” he said in a statement to The Bee. “And, it is so clear that Medi-Cal coverage for all seniors is more important than ever because the health of each of us depends on the health of all of us.”
But some remain skeptical until a final budget gets signed by Newsom.
Ouillette, with Legal Aid At Work, said several questions about the budget still linger, such as whether California will receive federal funding and what the state’s revenues will look like, given that the tax filing deadline is now July 15.
“The expansion of the tax credit is a right step,” she said Tuesday. “We are glad to see that was included, although it’s still unclear what the final form of the budget will be.”
The child tax credit would only “impact a very small portion of the undocumented community,” she said, and wouldn’t be “nearly enough” to meet the need.
“We know the state needs to do more if California is going to recover from this,” Ouillette said.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 4:02 PM.
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